Just posted something on a similar vein, but way longer :D

I too think this is the issue - the global economy never did recover entirely from the last crash and there's a feeling it's going down the shitter again real soon...

In many countries the range anxiety and charging point anxiety have been solved / are being solved etc.
Where I live - the United Kingdom, the EV infrastructure is just about good enough now.

I think the issue is now down to money.

I've got 2016 diesel Audi A3 - I got it in 2017.
It's such a good car I can find no reason to get a new one.
I look at all my neighbours - some have cars that are 20 years old.
The average is over 10 years.

I look at the cars on the road, there's plenty of old models around, more than new ones by a long shot.

I don't think it's a case of "Sinking EV sales", but more "Sinking everything sales"

There's no longer the cash or credit in the market to drive frequent periodic replacement/upgrade at scale.

There's also not much reason to, if your fossil fuel vehicle is less than 20 years old.
There's totally been a golden age of reliability in the past, where vehicles got so damn good they break down way less often.
I've got no idea when that was, but it's totally a thing.

The second hand car market in the UK is huge and there's so many bargains to be had, why buy a new one?
Why even bother getting an EV?

If you are environmentally concerned, keeping an old fossil fuel car running is going to be more ecologically effective than buying a brand new EV.

I digress. Hugely.

The global economy is screwed and it sure don't look like it's going to get any better any time soon, it's going the other way.

Well done slashdot, as always, days behind all other tech/science sites.

Oh my goodness Iâ(TM)m scared.

Right, letâ(TM)s recall every car model where it wasnâ(TM)t clear how a crash occurred, even if just 19 out of a million were impacted.

FFS.

I'm struggling to even bother with slashdot these days - first time I've checked the home page in about a month.

The first story I notice is almost a week old, this one.

I guess the fact that the UI and UX is still stuck 20 years in the past says it all.

The glory days of slashdot are LONG behind it.

Just think of the children!

... when you pry (or take) it from my cold, dead hands

I know, because I'm running Linux Mint with Steam and games and stuff.

Totally the year of LOTD.

> it's universal economic disruption combining with cultural inertia causing societal collapse.

This.

We're in a perfect storm, because at the same time, climate breakdown or rather rapid climate change is also going to lead to societal collapse.

Multiple events happening almost simultaneously could in fact result in civilization collapse, rather than societal, although the two are somewhat intertwined.

Any thinking person born within the last century who has had the benefit of education has known, since being able to figure it out, that humanity is rushing toward a civilization ending point.

You can argue that's the default, fair point, but this time around, it'll be a global event.

It's not looking good, even without an extra AI card being played.
That card is just one more on top of a small but growing pile of existential threats.

I guess it's always been thus anyway - asteroids, volcanos, viruses, ice ages, hothouse earth - we've just slapped a few more onto the pile ;)

Within the next decade we _will_ reach a point where the _only_ thing that you can be at least somewhat certain of, is what you see with your own eyes in "meat space" - by that, I mean excluding _any_ media.

The alarming thing about this is that we've kinda been in this space already for all of humanities history, it's just that now, there'll be no way to even begin to verify anything outside of immediate physical interactions in your own local space.

It's the speed and volume that's the problem, the reach of media - right in your pocket, beaming into your brain as you doom-scroll.

Right now we're in an age of anxiety - that's been coined by many people and it's just so damn true.
Everything is making people anxious, the news cycle is out of control.

We're headed for the post truth age where nothing is verifiable, which means there's no way to objectively navigate life on a wider scale.
At best, it will result in insular behavior.
"Because I can't trust this information, I'm not even going to participate anymore"

At worst, it results in thuggery. The lowest common denominator, out there to just kick the shit out of anyone who won't accept a version of truth laid down.
So, yeah, Orwellian.

Has anyone noticed that investigative journalism is all but dead?
Hell, journalism which has the potential to enlighten and change things for the better is totally dead.

We are so close to post truth - LLM's are going to push us over the edge into the abyss - after that, there's no going back.

If you have the luxury of being able to, become a luddite and retreat to rural areas, because the very near future is going to suck really badly.

Yeah, I'll troll on this one. For damn sure.

I get it, I really do, Americans have had a raw deal for so damn long it's not even funny.

The democrats and the liberal elites are so out of touch with reality it's a big joke.
Completely ignoring the plight of the average American for decades.

It matters not that the Republicans have done the same - moot point.

In comes Trump - again - and lies to the American public - again - and gets his second term.

He was helped out by a democratic party that IGNORED a HUGE percentage of Americans.
They thought that a conveyor belt of celebrities sending out a message to America would win them the election.

They ignored the poor, the needy, the backbone of America - the workers.
Totally ignored them.

Trump wades in and USES them.
He knows that demographic, if he whips them up into a biblical or wrestle-mania frenzy, are going to go out and vote.

But he doesn't care about them.
They are a means to an end.

When I was a young'un my Ma and Pa told me "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach."

It was a rubbish saying - total wank really - but that's how some people think.
There's perhaps a tiny kernel of truth in it, just as there's a kernel of truth in:

"Those that can, do. Those that can't get into management."

There's a huge amount of sentiment around how terrible management can be and generally is, but the bottom line is it's all about middle management.
Middle managers are usually people just trying to forge ahead in their career after hitting a ceiling as workers.
They are often coerced into management roles they simply don't have the ability to fulfil.

Then there's the "Manager class" - these types have no problems with being clueless, their remit is to boss people about.
They use optics to get ahead. Say the right things, kiss the right boots, lick the right arses.

And their jobs are worthless in a WFH culture - totally worthless.

They can't perform the optics.

So now they are crawling up the arses of the top brass, licking the boots and leading the charge "back to the office"

I'll put the beers down now...

I've been computing since 1981.

There was no satire in this comment, just the stereotypical grey beard moronity.

We all know Apple can be damn awful - they are awful a lot of the time.
The marketing is a cringe fest. iCloud is monopolistic. Apple "invent" things already invented and claim them as their own - e.g. "Apple Intelligence".

Having said that, it pays to be the bigger person in all of this and recognise when good stuff is made.

The OP deserved to be insulted, because they are insulting the intelligence of everyone else by posting utter bunk.

> This isn't a computer for using, it's a thing for owning.

That insults me. I'm using the damn thing now. I use if for coding, for graphics, as a daily driver and it's frikkin' awesome.

I have a Linux box, which dual boots into windows.
I have several Raspberry Pi's

I use all sorts of hardware and operating systems because I'm genuinely interested in them.

Anyone who comes along like a right wing nutter and spews volumes of crap is going to get both barrels.

I've had enough of remaining silent when I see shit like this going down and will point it out.

You can take your lawn and shove it up your ass.

stealth_finger:

Who cares about usability when the main objective is to be pretty? This isn't a computer for using, it's a thing for owning.

Really?
Is that the best you have?
And this fool got voted up to 5?

It's a 5" x 5" x 2" hunk of hollow aluminium with innards that pack an almighty punch in terms of compute power with a crazy low power consumption.

Are you stupid?
Did your parents drop you on your head?

This is MAGA levels of idiocy and delusion, but then again, slashdot has always attracted the crazies.